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Al Garnati: al mu'rid an Ba'd Ayaib Al Magrib
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Taken from: the original translation
The-Nil
It is said: And the birth of the Nile, the Nile de Misr, is by the Qumr mountains; an arm ends at the sea that is behind the island Qubbat al-Art (the Cupola of the Earth) and another arm makes the route by al-Nuba (to Egypt).
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Taken from: the spanish translation by Ana Ramos 1990
Youssouf KamalTome III fasc4
Full name: Abu Hamid al-Andalusi al Garnati
The land of the Soudan including the Zandj and the Boudja stretches for 14 years, those people eat dogs which they prefer over sheep, they also eat mice�.
Part of the Sea ( Sea of Fars) goes up to al-Basra then to al-Abbadan, to Siraf, Kirman, al Bahrain, the island of Kish, al Daiboul, and on to the land of Habasha and the Zandj and to Sarandib and al Souliyan.
In the land of the Zany there are donkeys whose skin looks like the woven silk they make in Baghdad and in Jorasan, known as 'itabi, it is characterized by its white and black rays. The rays of the skin of this animal are equal to or even more beautiful than those of the mentioned cloth.
Here we have(I only give the second part) a story that is a different version of Buzurgs story of the ship driven to the coast of Zenj. Buzurg was from Persia and so was the ship. And most of the trade in his days(10th century) went between Zanj and Persia. By the time of this version of the story this had changed. The main trading partner is Egypt. And the man writing the story as well as the ship come from Egypt.
He gave him (his slave) everything for the trip, after having granted him freedom and a salary. He made sure there were witnesses of the emancipation act. When those returned to their house, every wise person knew what the slave had done and what had been the attitude of Affan, and they felt towards him the highest consideration. After some time, one of the main merchants of the city went to see Affan and spoke to him in this way: I have very appropriate merchandise to sell in India and I trust it to you so that you take it, distributing the benefits to us in such and such a way. Once agreement made, the merchant provided him with all he needed. And one day Affan left, taking numerous merchandise of that man and arriving there; he remained there during some time and later embarked to India, where he sold all what remained, obtaining very high gains. When ready of return to his mother country, a strong hurricane dragged his boat to the land of the Zany. The merchants, frightened, were forced to disembark, from fear of a shipwreck. When jumping to earth, the natives came to their encounter and they one by one were lead before the king, who, without directing the word to them, ordered that they were to be brought back to the boat. Then it was Affans turn to be before the king. When this one saw him, he rose, he went towards him and kissed his hands and feet : he remained standing before him, in respectful attitude. Affan felt fear, but the king, using an interpreter, said to him: Are you not Affan, the tailor of Cairo? Did you not buy a black slave whom you emancipated, although he had burned your suits, providing him with provisions for the trip, without beating nor insulting him for the damage that he had caused to you? Affan answered him: Yes, oh king. That is me. The king said then: I am that slave of yours to whom you gave freedom. God has favored me with the well-being that you see, by virtue of your good behaviour towards me. This is your kingdom, sit on the throne on my side because if I am the king of this country, you reign over me. Affan, after praising God, went to the king in these terms: Oh king: You are like a son for me; nevertheless, it could not feel happy in your country, because it is to me excessively warm; in addition I would find uprooted, far from mine. Then the King issued the order that the boat, be loaded with valuable things, offering it to Affan as a gift. Later he had some of his servants accompany him, entrusting to them that he be lead happily to his country. He left Affan, in possession of an immense fortune and he never regretted that he requested aid to him. Affan constructed a great number of houses, commerce-houses and public-baths, for the use of the poor Muslims. In his own house he commanded to build the mosque that we now see, in that he dug his grave, next to which he used to pray all the nights. And the totality of his goods were deposited on his tomb. Thursday and Friday of every week, the executors appear. They distribute between men, young people and old, of both sexes. When they enter the mosque they distribute great amounts of money to the poor and those that pass on the outer part of the iron windows in the walls of the building murmur: Oh Affan, that God has mercy of you, and this is repeated, throughout the day and at night, by thousands of women and children. I by chance stopped next it and observed that multitude that prayed for Affan the divine compassion during so many hours; the small five and two year old children even repeated those words. He made the impression to me deeply that God granted to that man so many favors, not only in life, but also surely after his death.
Physical and moral peculiarities of some countries:
One says that the Byzantines are blond; the Zany, black; the Turks, robust; Chinese, the ugly ones; those of Gog and Magog, short, and the Ethiopians crazy.